November 15, 2007 | 12:00am
Two years or so ago, we visited the Napa Valley known which is to have the biggest wineries in the country. We experienced wine tasting to the fullest. But this season, after the Hearst Castle visit, we passed by the Paso Robles, another place in California where Far Out Wineries are located. In their brochure, the group of wine makers said: “We are far out, but not that far away. We once were chefs, photographers, investment bankers, far out hippies, actors, international financiers, studio drummers, wine importers, engineers, developers and alas, even an attorney, but we all are now wine makers with a mutually shared passion for the wide spectrum of flavors arising from vineyards planted in the gnarly limestone hills west of Paso Robles. Take the Far Out trail and experience broad diversity and unique wines plump with intense character. We are indeed far out, but not that far away!”
Yes, indeed, off the beaten path and worth the drive…were the wineries like the Adelaide Cellars, Carmody McKnight Estate Wines developed and owned by actor-artist Gary Carmody Conway and former Miss America Marian McKnight Conway who purchased the land west of Paso Robles in the Adelaida Hills. The story goes that Gary first beheld the majesty of the mountain valley from a helicopter moment before it crashed. Emerging from the wreckage unscathed, Gary exclaimed to the stunned real estate broker: “I’ll take it!” This is the stuff of legends and indeed in the ensuing years the land and its wonder soils and perfect microclimates have fast become legendary. The Conway family planted the 100 acre vineyard in 1986. Other vineyards within the Adelaide Hills are Dunning Vineyards Estate Winery and Country Inn, Halter Ranch Winery, Justin Vineyards and Winery and a lot more.
After 40 years, we finally met Emma Luna Ornopia, a very dear friend from way back in the fifties who came to LA to attend the burial of her sister-in-law in Anaheim. Emma, a Med Tech graduate from the Southwestern University in Cebu has been a resident of Kansas after she married the good looking Boyd Ornopia, also a Cebuano. The Ornopias have a daughter Daisy (an only child) and now married to Steve Carlson of Colorado.
